1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic information equipment such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as "PC"), a word processor (hereinafter referred to as "WP") or the like, and more particularly to an improvement in construction of a key board and a printer for the equipment.
2. Related Background Art
The conventional lap top type of electronic information equipment includes an equipment body mounted on a table, a key board which has plural input keys and is installed at a front side on an upper surface of the equipment body, a rotatable display which is pivotally mounted on a center portion on the upper surface of the equipment body in such a manner as to cover the key board, a built-in printer which is provided at an inner portion of the equipment body and serves to perform a printing on a recording sheet, a sheet supply port which is provided at an inner portion of the equipment body and through which the recording sheet is inserted, and a sheet discharge port which is provided at an inner portion of the equipment body and through which the printed recording sheet is discharged. The electronic information equipment may include a mouse or track ball as a instruction input device when it comprises a PC.
The key board has plural input keys which are actuated with a pushing operation and longitudinally and laterally arranged in a matrix. Ordinarily, the mouse and the track ball are optionally installed to the equipment body, and placed at a right or left side of the key board on the table. The mouse and the track, serving as the instruction input device, has an advantage which is not given to the input key, and they are operated solely or in parallel with an operation of the input key by an operator. The printer is so designed as to be operated after the display is slantly approached to the key board and a recording sheet is inserted through the sheet supply port.
Recently, miniaturization of an electronic information equipment has been required, and in association with this requirement a key board space has been required to be effectively used. However, the conventional lap top type electronic information equipment has been designed in the construction as described above, and the input keys are merely provided on the key board. Therefore, irrespective of the recent requirement of the effective use of the key board space, the effective use of the key board space has not been achieved in the conventional electronic information equipment.
In addition, the mouse and the track ball are placed at the right or left side of the key board on the table, and thus an operator's action to the equipment is necessarily restricted to an operation using his right or left hand. This restriction of the operator's action constitutes a remarkable obstacle to the operation of the input key, and the disadvantage that the operator's action is necessarily restricted to the operation using his right or left hand also constitutes an obstacle to a simultaneous operation of both of the mouse or track ball and the input key, so that there occurs a disadvantage that an effective input operation can not be performed.
Further, since the printer can not be used unless the display is slantly approached to the key board and the recording sheet is inserted through the sheet supply port, the user can not visually check both of the recording sheet which is being subjected to a printing operation and the screen of the display on which a printed image is being displayed. Therefore, an operator's visual comparing check can not be performed unless the printing operation is completed, and thus a series of printing operations and the visual comparing check are ineffectively carried out.